We aim to produce architecture that is powerful and personal, architecture with the capability of developing its own character. As a result our projects may polarize the public, which is fine with us. One may love or hate our ar-chitecture, but one should never be left indifferent.

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As post-idealistic children of the 1968- generation, we do not recognise a single great truth, but find in the frac-tures of real ity a ground in which to an-chor architecture. This is the radicalism that we derived from Venturi’s ‘both-and’ principle. But both-and should not be mistaken as being arbitrary or inde-cisive. Behind and within it lies the problematic recognition of equitable values, and a longing for an architecture that renounces all dogma, opening it-self to the freedom of possibility.

With offices in both Zurich and Berlin, EM2N with Mathias Müller (*1966) and Daniel Niggli (*1970) has 70 col-laborators working on construction and competition projects in Switzerland and abroad. In addition to a number of awards including ‘bestarchitects’, ‘Umsicht-Regards-Sguardi’, the ‘Aus-zeichnung Guter Bauten’ from the City of Zurich, the Canton of Basel-City of and Basel-Landschaft, they received the ‘Swiss Art Award’ in Architecture. Mathias Müller and Daniel Niggli were visiting professors at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, as well as in Zurich. Daniel Niggli was a member of the construction com-mitees in Berlin (2008 – 12) and Zurich (2010 – 14).

Their important recent construction projects include the Swiss Film Archive in Penthaz (2015), the Toni-Areal in Zurich (2014), the Keystone Office Building in Prag (2012) and ‘Im Viadukt’ – Refurbishment of the viaduct arches in Zurich (2010). Planning has started on, among other projects, the Housing Briesestrasse Neukölln in Berlin and the New Museum of Natural History Basel and State Archives Basel-City (both since 2015). In addi-tion construction work has started on the Housing Riedpark in Zug (since 2008), the Lucerne University of Ap-plied Sciences and Arts, School of Art and Design in Emmenbrücke (since 2015) as well as the Heuried Sports Centre, Ice Sport Hall (since 2015).

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Contact Zurich

EM2N | Mathias Müller | Daniel NiggliArchitekten AG | ETH | SIA | BSAJosefstrasse 92CH – 8005 Zürich

T + 41 44 215 60 10F + 41 44 215 60 11

em2n@em2n.chhttp://www.em2n.ch

Contact Berlin

EM2N Architekten Berlin GmbH Mathias Müller | Daniel Niggli Urbanstraße 71 D – 10967 Berlin

T + 49 30 585 83 46 30 F + 49 30 585 83 46 32

em2n@em2n.dehttp://www.em2n.de

Media enquiriesT + 41 44 215 60 38caroline.vogel@em2n.ch

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Associates

Associate at EM2N Architekten Berlin Project Leader at EM2N, Zürich

Since 20152003 – 2012

Verena Lindenmayer (*1975), Dipl. Ing. Arch.

Associate at EM2N, ZurichJoined EM2N, Zurich

Since 20092004

Fabian Hörmann (*1978), Dipl. Ing. Arch. FH

Associate at EM2N, ZurichJoined EM2N, Zurich

Since 20082006

Gerry Schwyter (*1975), Dipl. Arch. FH

Associate at EM2N, ZurichJoined EM2N, Zurich

Since 20051999

Christof Zollinger (*1973), Arch. HTL

Associate at EM2N, ZurichJoined EM2N, Zurich

Since 20062002

Bernd Druffel (*1972), Dipl. Ing. Arch. FH

Associate at EM2N, ZurichJoined EM2N, Zurich

Since 20132006

Björn Rimner (*1978), Dipl. Ing. Arch.

Partners

Biographies

EM2N Architekten Berlin GmbH, BerlinMember Baukollegium Zurich Member Baukollegium BerlinVisiting Professor ETH ZurichVisiting Professor EPF LausanneSwiss Art Award in ArchitectureEM2N Architekten ETH / SIAThesis Prof. Adrian Meyer / Prof. Marcel Meili, ETH ZurichExchange student Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, USAStudies in architecture at the ETH Zurichraised in Trimbach, Switzerlandborn in Olten, Switzerland

Since 2015 2010 – 2014 2008 – 20122009 – 201120052004Since 19971996

1993

1990 – 19961970 – 19901970

Daniel Niggli, Dipl. Arch ETH SIA BSA

EM2N Architekten Berlin GmbH, BerlinVisiting Professor ETH ZurichVisiting Professor EPF LausanneSwiss Art Award in ArchitectureEM2N Architekten ETH / SIAThesis Prof. Adrian Meyer / Prof. Marcel Meili, ETH ZurichStudies in architecture at the ETH ZurichStudies in Olympia, WA, USAraised in Zurichraised in Nuremberg, Germanyborn in Zurich, Switzerland

Since 20152009 – 201120052004Since 19971996

1990 – 19961987 – 19891980 – 19861966 – 19801966

Mathias Müller, Dipl. Arch ETH SIA BSA

Selected built projects in chronological order

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Commission competitionDates competition 2007 (1st prize), Planning 2007 – 2010, construction 2010 – 2012 (1st phase), 2013 – 2015 (2nd phase), ongoingSize 13,254 m2Costs CHF 49.5 Mio. Client Bundesamt für Bauten und Logistik BBL

In the extension to the national film archive the structure of the existing buildings arranged in a linear relationship to each other is translated by means of additions and re-modeling into an ambivalent form of parallel volumes of different length. The archive itself is designed as an un-derground storage space that provides the best possible protection for the culturally valuable artifacts. This dispo-sition reacts to the expansiveness of the neighboring land-scape of farmland and gives the institution a very clear ad-dress. A shell of rusting steel encases the entire complex and binds the new and the existing parts together.

Cinémathèque suisse, Penthaz, Switzerland

Commission study commissionDates study commission 2008 (1st part), study commis-sion 2010 (2nd part), planning 2010 – 2013, construction 2012 – 2015Size 39,150 m2Costs – Client Halter Entwicklungen AG, Priora GU AG

On the site of a former dye-works a building was to be developed for the central Building Plot C. A folded, relief-like façade, powerful colours and generous amounts of glazing emphasise this central function. The façade grid becomes a wickerwork pattern of broad interwoven bands in different shades of green. On the ground floor of the building shops and a crèche establish a public character. A bamboo grove that brings life to the large courtyard at first floor level represents a strong and unexpected land-scape element. Each part of the building has a special housing typology that reflects the particular location.

Housing amRietpark, Building Site C, Schlieren, Switzerland

Toni-Areal, Zurich, Switzerland

Commission study commissionDates study commission 2005 (1st prize), planning 2005 – 2011, construction 2008 – 2014Size 125,000 m2Costs CHF 547 Mio. Client Allreal Toni AG, represented by Allreal General-unternehmung AG

The aim of the conversion of the large former milk pro-cessing building into a location for education, culture and housing was to formulate a concept for a building that is almost the size of an entire urban block. Our design sug-gested dealing with the size of the project by means of a kind of internal urbanism. A wide range of extremely dif-ferent spaces is created, extending from functional public halls and circulation spaces to intimate rehearsal cabinets: the building as city, the city as building. To create diversity and variety the architecture works with various degrees of refinement.

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Conversion Hammergut, Cham, Switzerland

Commission competitionDates competition 2015 (1st prize), planning 2009 – 2013, construction 2011– 2014 Size 7,000 m2Costs CHF 27 Mio.Client Seewarte Zentralschweiz AG

The old Hammer estate is a powerful ensemble that has developed over the course of 150 years. The strongly or-thogonal primary structure has always provided the basis for the successful integration of new buildings. This is also the point at which the present conversion begins. The aim is to achieve an atmospherically condensed ensemble in which the old and new buildings can coexist on an equal footing. Each of the new buildings has an independent floor plan typology and in this way augments the exis-ting heterogeneous system. The old buildings are care-fully converted. A lively mix of spaces for work and living remains the trade mark of this farm estate.

Extension Herdern Railway Service Facility, Zurich, Switzerland

Commission fee proposal with sketch designDates commission 2009, planning 2009–2010, construction 2012 – 2013Size 13,000 m2Costs CHF 70 Mio. Client Swiss Federal Railways SBB

Through its central position next to the rapidly developing neighborhood of Zurich-West and by virtue of its sheer size, the new maintenance facility aquires great urbani-stic significance. At the start many design decisions had already been taken – the competition task was to find an economically feasible and at the same time architectu-rally satisfying solution. We decided to concentrate on the southern façade. The curvature of the fiber cement elements frees the endless façade from its flat monotony and renders a play of light and shadow. Both ends of the service hall with their huge entrance doors are treated as cuts, where the spatial façade is cut flat.

Commission competitionDates competition 2008 (1st prize), planning 2009 – 2011, construction 2011 – 2013 Size 5,800 m2 Costs CHF 28.9 Mio. Client SBB Immobilien

The project is developed out of its exciting location bet-ween two extremes: the inner city Kreis 4 and an expan-sive area of railway tracks. The layered structure of the building responds to the external situation. Bedrooms and loggias face southwards towards the quiet courtyard. The entrance halls, wet rooms and cloakrooms are centrally positioned. Living and dining areas profit from the expan-sive nature of the area of railway tracks. The architectural expression presents the internal structure. Towards the wide area of tracks large window openings permeate the appearance of the façade; whereas towards the courtyard a calm façade with repetitive openings is made.

Housing Neufrankengasse, Zurich, Switzerland

Headquarters Sedorama AG, Schönbühl, Switzerland

Commission direct commissionDates commission 2011, planning 2011–2013, construction 2012–2013Size 1,970 m2Costs CHF 5.2 Mio.Client Sedorama-Immobilien AG

By erecting its Swiss headquarters directly on the A1 Se-dorama dares to step onto the big stage. The building po-sitions itself at an exciting interface between a utilitarian, functional architecture and its role as headquarters and eye-catcher. The new headquarters is slightly concave on both long sides and thus turns towards the passing traffic while also creating an arrivals area on the car park side. Inside visitors are surprised by a stepped cascade that extends the entire height of the building. All the surfaces are either left in their original state or painted white. This powerful, neutral background forms the stage for the ex-citing presentation of the products.

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Housing Rue Rebière, Paris, France

Commission direct commissionDates commission 2006, planning 2006 – 2010, construction 2010 – 2012 Size 1,500 m2Costs CHF 3.3 Mio.Client Paris Habitat OPH

In the context of upgrading Porte Pouchet 18 construction plots were distributed. We were interested in the acute angled plots 17 and 18, not just on account of the buil-ding volumes, which, given the shape of the site, would clearly be very expressive, but also because of the spaces between the buildings. By means of cutting and adding the building volumes were given a crystalline form and enclose a planted approach courtyard. We expressively exaggerated the only unregulated areas, the balconies. In a reference to Adolf Loos’ project for the Josephine Baker House from 1928 the façade is striped. We achieved this connecting striped effect with the use of expanded metal.

Commission competitionDates competition 2005 (1st prize), planning 2005 – 2010, construction 2008 – 2012 Size 29,967 m2 Costs CHF 64.7 Mio. Client Baugenossenschaft Frohheim

This development uses different heights to respond to the surrounding buildings in Zurich-Affoltern. Towards the road the buildings are connected at ground floor level to form an urban plinth and in this way protect the buildings behind from street noise. The positions of the large pro-jecting balconies (which also have recessed areas) are staggered from floor to floor and thus sculpture the volu-me of the building. Together with the coloured parapets and metallic bands of windows they help structure the buildings and shape the character of the development.

Affoltern Housing Development, Zurich, Switzerland

Commission direct commissionDates commission 2007, planning 2008 – 2010, construction 2010 – 2012Size 11,600 m2Costs CHF 24 Mio.Client Real Estate Karlín Group a.s.

This office building stands at a kind of gateway situation at a prominent situation in Karlín, a district of Prague that is undergoing rapid change. The ground floor, taller than the other levels, contains shops and showrooms while the upper floors are occupied by office space. The external appearance of the building takes up geometrical themes found in Czech Cubism at the start of the 20th century. The volumetric concept of the façade creates an ambivalently legible network of forms oriented in different directions. The double-layered façade not only produces a sculptural outer skin, but also improves the performance of the win-dows in thermal and acoustic insulation.

Keystone Office Building, Prague, Czech Republic

Commission invited competition Dates competition 2008 (1st prize), planning 2008 – 2010, construction 2010–2012Size 99,000 m2 Costs CHF 60 Mio.Client City of Ordos

The boarding school for 3000 pupils is to be created on the edge of the new city of Ordos. We see the project as a small city within the city. With its combination of a low-rise high-density mesh in the peripheral areas and taller, more prominent buildings at the centre, the complex re-fers to and adapts themes of traditional Chinese urban planning. The school is divided into a number of districts by the squares. Each school and each residential area is differentiated typologically to create optimal living and learning conditions. The inner spatial figure opens the school to the city and invites to appropriate the school grounds as public space.

Mongolian School Project, Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China

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Commission competitionDates competition 2004 (1st prize), planning 2007 – 2010, construction 2009 – 2011Size 5,952 m2Costs –Client private

The five building areas in the park complex ‘Im Forster’ are positioned so as to ensure optimum preservation of the parkland. The building lot ‘Gärtnerei’ stands in an atmospheric clearing, characterised by tall trees in the south and filter-like planting towards the former tennis court. The L-shaped building creates an arrivals area on the street side and a garden space on the park front that guarantees all the apartments breadth and openness. The white-clad building stands on an exposed concrete plinth. The apartments are of very different kinds, depending on their position they face in two or three directions or have taller rooms extending into the roof.

Housing Im Forster, Zurich, Switzerland

Commission studyDates competition 2005 (1st prize), planning 2005 – 2009, construction 2009 – 2011Size 6,400 m2 Costs CHF 24 Mio.Client City of Thun

Upgrading the town meeting hall into a culture and con-gress centre posed two major challenges. The restrictive general framework of the project and the question of how to deal architecturally with the existing building from the 1980s. The extension should condense the complex in both spatial and programmatic terms and strengthen its public character. As the strategic use of resources was essential, we reduced the interventions in the existing fab-ric to a minimum, leaving the meeting hall ‘untouched’. Alongside it a new, functionally neutral hall was placed. The new foyer and the existing one combine to form a richly modulated spatial figure.

Culture and Congress Centre, Thun, Switzerland

Commission competitionDates competition 2004 (1st prize), planning 2005 – 2008, construction 2008 – 2010Size 9,008 m2 Costs CHF 35.3 Mio. Client Foundation PWG

The viaduct originally used as a railway line, had to be formed in a linear park that will be part of a culture and leisure mile. This initiated two decisive urban impulses: The viaduct as a spatial barrier becomes a linking struc-ture and the outdoor spaces bordering it are upgraded. We viewed the ambivalence of a large-scale connecting machine and a linear building as a fundamental quality and used it as the architectural leitmotiv to connect the new uses with the viaduct structure. The characteristic Cyclopean masonry forms the central atmospheric ele-ment. The new structures are deliberately restrained so as to emphasise the existing arches.

Refurbishment Viaduct Arches, Zurich, Switzerland

Commission direct commissionDates commission 2008, planning 2008 – 2009, construction 2009 – 2010Size 1,280 m2 Costs CHF 3.2 Mio.Client DN2M Projektentwicklung AG

A supermarket erected in 1961 was converted into five ar-chitecturally ambitious ‘hall houses’. The original volume was retained and extended by adding a new recessed sto-rey on the roof. The kitchens, dining and living areas of the five houses were created out of the former sales area with its ceiling height of four meters. A complex spatial system with split-levels and individual access to the roof was developed around the hall-like living space. The exist-ing building fabric has been preserved for the most part. Inside the changing mood of the light and the visual rela-tionships between the different levels produce a unique kind of living situation.

Conversion Rosenberg, Winterthur, Switzerland

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Commission study commissionDates commission 2007, planning 2007 – 2010, construction 2009 – 2010Size 5,800 m2Costs CHF 20 Mio.Client Beat Odinga AG

The conversion profits from the bulkiness of the existing building. The considerable ceiling heights make it possible to provide light for building depths of up to 24 metres and to create generously sized spaces. A new second staircase makes the existing circulation into a collective spatial fi-gure with a specific form that creates internal addresses. A 3D puzzle made up of interlocking single-storey apart-ments and maisonettes is created between the façade and the circulation system. Each apartment reacts specifically to its position in the building. Artist Jörg Niederberger uses colour to ‘stage’ this internal circulation figure. The building meets the Minergie P standard.

Conversion Habsburgstrasse, Zurich, Switzerland

Commission study commissionDates commission 2008, planning 2008 – 2009, construction 2009Size 4,368 m2 Costs CHF 18 Mio.Client MZ-Immobilien AG

The task was to erect a temporary four-star hotel build-ing on a public site that in 15 years will be used for a road building project. We developed this project from the ser-ial character of hotel buildings. The standard layout of bedrooms next to each other was transformed into an expressive building volume by swivelling the module. The sculptural facade corresponds with an internal corridor figure; the building is given a head and an end. The idyl-lic location led to the idea of a facade of polished chrome steel. The facetted building volume mirrors its natural sur-roundings and transforms the place into a kaleidoscope of building and nature.

Hotel City Garden, Zug, Switzerland

Commission direct commissionDates commission 2003, construction 2007 – 2009Size 30 m2 (extension)Costs –Client private

The client wished to make better use of the large garden on his site. We designed a garden pavilion as an exten-sion to the living area. The accessible roof of this pavilion serves as a terrace. For an abstract effect we deliberately restricted the number of materials used. The design of the surroundings was included in the project from the very beginning. The seating area in the garden, the flowerbed and the pool produce in conjunction with the small build-ing a powerful and independent ensemble. The house, the trees and the seasons are reflected in the areas of glass and water; at times the pavilion seems almost to dissolve in the dialogue with its setting.

Extension Funkwiesenstrasse, Zurich, Switzerland

Commission direct commissionDates commission 2003, planning 2003 – 2004, construction 2004 – 2008 (two phases)Size 67 m2 (new building), 127 m2 (conversion) Costs –Client private

The use of space in this 1960s development of single-sto-rey row houses seems wasteful. As, according to the regu-lations, underground buildings do not count as utilization of space, we created an underground patio house as a kind of ‘second house’. Whereas the two courtyards are sharply incised in the garden, the two new bedrooms and a bathroom are attached to the existing basement. The existing hobby room was converted to a third bed-room and a former crawl space into a home cinema. This gain of space allowed two ground floor rooms to be opened up. It is only now that this house responds to its privileged situation as the end building in a row.

Extension Gross House, Greifensee, Switzerland

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Commission competitionDates competition 2004 (1st prize), construction 2005 – 2007Size 5,650 m2Costs CHF 3.35 Mio.Client City of Zurich

By means of selective interventions we attempted to give the station a new identity, to make it easier to find your way around and to increase the attractiveness of the front area. On two levels the railway is anchored in the urban fabric by means of large illuminated panels. The spaces inside the station were ‘tidied up’. They were given a clear visual appearance that orders the spaces and makes ori-entation easier. The colours and signs are derived from the corporate design of the Swiss Federal Railways. The area in front of the entrance ramp beneath the bridge was reformulated as a generously dimensioned railway stati-on concourse.

Hardbrücke Railway Station Upgrading, Zurich, Switzerland

Commission competitionDates competition 2000 (1st prize), planning 2001–2007, construction 2005 – 2007Size 4,705 m2 Costs CHF 15.4 Mio.Client Canton of Basel-Landschaft

The current location of the existing office, cut off from the town, hardly allows the public character of the institu-tion to be expressed. We interpreted the need to double the amount of space as a chance to translate the existing building into a powerful, self-confident form. We added an additional storey to the archive wing. Consequently the spatial programme is no longer organized horizontally but vertically. By placing the public zone on the second floor the visitors’ area is lifted out of the cramped topography. In the form of a glazed roof volume the new public zone now engages the urban district of Liestal, which lies on the far side of the railway line embankment.

Public Record Office Basel-Landschaft, Liestal, Switzerland

Commission competitionDates competition 2003 (1st prize), planning 2003 – 2005, construction 2005 – 2006Size 9,188 m2 Costs CHF 27.2 Mio. Client MCH Messe Zürich AG

The refurbishment of a theatre building required an ad-ditional 700 seats and a larger foyer. This gave the starting point for a radical transformation of the existing substance into a contemporary musical theatre. Our project ‘canni-balises’ existing elements such as the basement and the fly tower. The new volume reacts in a differentiated way to the various scales of the urban context. During the day the façade of standing-seam perforated metal is reminiscent of industrial buildings. At night the windows behind the translucent membrane begin to glow, transforming the building into an artificial lantern. The activities inside are conveyed outside by large ‘eyes’.

Theater 11, Zurich, Switzerland

Commission competitionDates competition 2002 (1st prize), planning 2002 – 2004, construction 2004 – 2005Size 2,476 m2 (Vocational), 2,334 m2 (Primary)Costs CHF 15.7 Mio. (Voc.), CHF 14.6 Mio. (Prim.)Client City of Zurich

Two neighbouring schools designed by Otto Glaus, from the 1960s and the 1980s were to be extended. The co-ex-istence and interpenetration of essentially very different urban fragments makes the perimeter into an exciting but difficult part of the city that is characterised by strong con-trasts. We attempted not to sugar-coat this place, but to develop the thinking behind it further. The area is opened up and connected internally by means of a meandering public park. The existing building fragments were aug-mented by employing specific tailor-made measures, their spatial presence is strengthened and they are connected to the new outdoor space.

Hardau Schools, Zurich, Switzerland

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Commission competitionDates competition 1999 (1st prize), planning 2002 – 2003, construction 2003 – 2004Size 866 m2 Costs CHF 3.0 Mio.Client City of Zurich

After the budget was reduced by 45% the amount of us-able floor area was reduced by only 25%, which meant radically cutting building costs: strategic minimalism! A basic structure, enhanced at specific points, now offers space for diverse activities. The building still blends in the park by its form and colour. Lime sand brick is the cheap-est material to build curved walls. With the radical use of colour we ‘killed’ the somewhat out-of-date material so that only colour and form remains. Starting from the image of tree bark, the façade is perforated and tattooed. A skin is generated which exceeds the image of a ‘Loch-fassade’, creates depths and relates to the environment.

Community Centre Aussersihl, Zurich, Switzerland

Commission competitionDates competition 1998 (1st prize), planning 2000 – 2002, construction 2002 – 2003Size 14,404 m2 Costs CHF 32.8 Mio.Client Familiengenossenschaft Zürich

We tend to understand community more as a possibil-ity than a constraint. It is given spatial expression in the carefully worked out sequence of public to private spac-es. Interface spaces, such as entrance halls to buildings, apartment entrances and balconies, are concentrated in terms of both atmosphere and programme. We worked at creating a kind of architecture that defines spatial qualities and is yet open to individual appropriation and program-matic changes. The development is laid over the former allotment gardens and brings its own outdoor spaces with it. The positioning of the volumes creates both extreme closeness and a spatial depth.

Hegianwandweg Housing Develop-ment, Zurich, Switzerland

Commission direct commissionDates commission 2002, construction 2003Size 183 m2 Costs –Client private

Most holiday houses look the same and the site’s specific character is seldom taken into. Our design relates to the wonderful place, adjacent to an alpine field. The house rises vertically in order to capture the spectacular views. The meadow around the building is left undisturbed, no garden design alters the appearance of the place. On the exterior, the house variegates the omnipresent chalet theme with its dark wood cladding and small window openings creating the image of a chalet tower with huge panorama windows. As an antithesis to living in separate rooms we developed our design from the hypothesis of a single-room house.

Holiday Home, Flumserberg,Switzerland

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Selected ongoing projects in chronological order

Commission competitionDates competition 2014 / 2015 (1st prize), ongoingSize 35,500 m2Costs –Client Canton of Basel-Stadt

A unique information storehouse, which will combine knowledge about nature and culture, takes the form of staggered long building with a tall slender tower that functions as an urban symbol for both institutions. The principle of adding and layering serves as a leitmotif that is externally legible and is continued internally by the spatial structure. A generously dimensioned entran-ce hall strengthens the joint presence; nevertheless the question of individual identities is of central importance to the design: the clear recognisability of both functions is achieved by the unambiguous allocation of spaces within the overall system.

New Museum of Natural History & State Archives, Basel, Switzerland

Commission study commissionDates study commission 2013 (1st prize), ongoingSize 40,600 m2Costs –Client UBS AG

The goal of the general refurbishment of the historic head-quarters building is to create a contemporary setting, to clearly illustrate the role as head office and to clearly se-parate the difference functions from each other within the building. The starting point for the project is the existing architecture, in particular the striking façade and impres-sive historic spaces. The new interventions respond to the existing fabric, augmenting it with modern elements to create a new entity. The publicly accessible ground floor is an interface space that plays a key role in integrating the building in the urban mesh.

Overall Refurbishment UBS Headquar-ters, Zurich, Switzerland

Housing Briesestrasse Neukölln, Berlin, Germany

Commission competitionDates competition 2015 (1st prize), ongoingSize 10,000 m2Costs –Client STADT UND LAND Wohnbauten-Gesellschaft mbH

This building figure made up of several parts condenses the site, nestles up against the firewall of the existing buil-ding and creates an outdoor space of quality in the sha-pe of a central courtyard. This generously dimensioned courtyard becomes the social centre of the housing deve-lopment. The access decks facing onto the courtyard can potentially be appropriated by the residential community. Each part of the building reacts to its specific position in the mesh. Apartments ranging in size from 1 to 4 rooms, as well as studios and large apartments with additional communal spaces are created. Within this flexible ‘shelf’ the apartment mix can be adapted with little difficulty.

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Commission competitionDates competition 2011–2012 (1st prize), planning 2012 – 2017, ongoingSize 9,187 m2Costs CHF 77.7 Mio.Client City of Zurich

Heuried Sports Centre combines very different functions, yet the complex still lacks a face of its own. A large roof will give the sports centre an address and a framework. Beneath it the various functions are differentiated. The building’s considerable volume reflects the size of the spatial program. The hovering roof and the vertical tecto-nics of the facade nevertheless give a certain lightness to the overall appearance. Towards the open-air swimming pools the building opens to the lawn by means of terraces and generously dimensioned flights of steps. As a whole the architecture consciously refers to Zurich’s tradition of public baths.

Heuried Sports Centre, Ice Sport Hall, Zurich, Switzerland

Housing GreenCity, Building Site A, Zurich, Switzerland

Commission competitionDates competition 2011– 2012 (1st prize), ongoingSize 12,000 m2Costs –Client Losinger Marazzi AG

The elongated plot A forms the start to the new urban dis-trict ‘GreenCity.Zürich’ and its character is largely shaped by the neighbouring street and railway line. We developed a long narrow building for it with an expressive character that creates a sense of identity. This leads to mostly east-west facing apartments, all of which are connected by a ‘street in the air’ to the communal space and the shared roof garden. The gridded facade defines the long building volume, emphasising its sculptural character. The motif of interwoven vertical and horizontal bands creates depth and a feeling of volume. The commercially used ground floor takes up the robust nature of the street and railway line and is made as a concrete plinth.

Commission direct commissionDates commission 2013, planning 2013 – 2015, ongoingSize 13,000 m2Costs CHF 24 Mio.Client Viscosistadt AG

On the former industrial site of the Monosuisse Compa-ny in Emmenbrücke a new urban district, known as the Viscosicity, is to be created in the near future. First of all Building 745 will be converted for the University of Design and Art. The main entrance is from the east, the façade of high-bay warehouse on the west will be stripped open to create a connection to the riverside park. The open ground floor strengthens the university building’s connection to the park. This is a zone where the public and the university meet, and plays a central role in developing and introdu-cing life into the entire site.

Lucerne University, School of Art and Design, Emmenbrücke, Switzerland

Housing Riedpark, Zug, Switzerland

Commission competitionDates competition 2006 (1st prize), planning 2007–2016, construction 2008 – 2011 (1st phase ), 2011– 2014 (2nd phase), ongoing (3rd phase)Size 35,900 m2Costs CHF 100 Mio.Client Seewarte Zentralschweiz AG

The Riedpark housing development is more than a hous- ing estate; it is, in fact, a new urban district with a strongly defined character. Instead of monotonous rows a large meander is used here that creates clearly differentia-ted outdoor spaces with hard surfaces or green garden courtyards. While the facades to the access courtyard are more urban and cubic in design, on the side facing the park the apartments open to the green space through generously dimensioned balconies. The meander is bro-ken up into individual building volumes, there are four different building types offering a variety of floor plans.

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Selected competitions and study commissions in chronological order

Commission competitionDates competition 2015 / 2016 (honourable mention)Size 7,000 m2Costs –Client Capital of Mainz

The extension aims to fit together the individual buildings of the Museum to make a compact urban building block with a clear, striking address. The new corner building erected in the 1st phase is a prominent symbol of the mu-seum and marks the new entrance. In the 2nd phase the earlier building designed by architect Schell is integrated. A new intermediate building is fitted precisely between the old building known as ‘Römischer Kaiser’ and the Schell museum building. This makes the roofed internal courtyard into the spatial centre of the new museum. The facade takes up important elements of the existing buil-dings and translates them into a contemporary image.

Extension Gutenberg Museum Mainz, Mainz, Germany

Extension Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum f. Gestaltung, Berlin, Germany

Commission competitionDates competition 2015 (5th prize)Size 6,700 m2Costs –Client Land Berlin represented by the Senate Adminis-tration for Urban Development and the Environment, Bauhaus-Archiv / Museum für Gestaltung

The extension is made up of three differentiated building blocks, which, in interaction with the distinctive figure of the Gropius building, create a permeable ensemble. The public functions are newly accommodated in two trans-parent spatial vessels under slender, widely cantilevered roof slabs: the café, which stands next to the entrance building, is swivelled to face the attractive open space of the Herkulesufer. The third volume, in which the delivery area, workshops and offices are accommodated, harmo-nises in terms of volume and height with the wing of the existing building that flanks the street.

Campus Biel / Bienne, Biel, Switzerland

Commission competitionDates competition 2015 Size 16‘000 m2 Costs –Client Amt für Grundstücke und Gebäude, Canton of Bern

Six buildings are staggered in height and positioned in re-lation to each other so that they produce a balanced com-position. The urban planning figure oscillates between the individual buildings and the conglomerate volume. To bring the campus to life, communal spaces are needed which have different qualities and also form interfaces to the outside world. The different parts of the building are connected by the entrance hall and the three main circu-lation cores, which branch out increasingly. An almost urban circulation system is created – the conglomerate building becomes a city with squares, streets and lanes.

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Commission competitionDates competition 2013 (1st prize), planning 2013 – 2015Size 40,280 m2Costs –Client Avair AG

The master plan takes up the characteristic parallel mor-phology of the location. All the functions are organized in parallel strips. Consideration of the heterogeneous surroundings led to placing the largest volume, the production building, in the middle of the site. The basic organization and structure of the production building es-tablishes optimal relationships between routes, simple basic geometries and a compact volume. Together with the parkland surrounding it the round administration buil-ding, placed at the front of the complex, functions as a fil-ter. The external appearance is kept plain, the translucent materials used give the façade depth.

Production and Administration Complex Medela, Perlen, Switzerland

Commission study commissionDates competition 2014–2015 (6th prize)Size 15’000 m2Costs – Client Kalkbreite Cooperative, City of Zurich

The tripartite Zollhaus responds to the cramped situation beside an area of railway tracks by swivelling away the middle building and omitting one storey in it. To enable the Zollhaus become the home for a collective kind of life, places for the community are needed. The differentiation of the programmatic, spatial and atmospheric qualities is tied to the gradual transition from public to semi-private and to the individual private realm of each resident. The Zollhaus is designed as a powerful but neutral and conse-quently flexible shell of shelves. The result is a raw, direct aesthetic that is open to appropriation by the users.

Housing Zollhaus, Zurich, Switzerland

Commission competitionDates competition 2014 – 2015 (2nd prize) Size 4,600 m2 Costs – Client Stiftung Stapferhaus Lenzburg

The new Haus der Gegenwart (House of the Present) is intended to be a pioneering building with high levels of flexibility, functionality and openness. The new building must also deal with the exposed location at the train sta-tion and present a new public face. The simple, compact volume with the concave bend in the gable wall remains recognisable but changes its facade for each new exhibi-tion. This is actually an industrial building made of timber, a material that in the interior can be processed using the simplest means, offering exhibition-makers an ideal basis for their work.

Stapferhaus Lenzburg, Haus der Gegenwart, Lenzburg, Switzerland

Campus RTS, Ecublens, Switzerland

Commission competitionDates competition 2014 Size 18,000 m2Costs –Client Radio Télévision Suisse RTS

In the constellation as an integral part of the university campus the new building can be read in different ways: on the hand as a mediator and on the other as an object-like, free-standing building. The volume is manipulated by means of two parallel cuts so that a relationship to the respective context is established on all sides. The editorial offices with studios, the administration, and the restau-rant facilities are distributed on three floors. The radically open spatial landscape is made up of work platforms that are layered above each other in different configurations so that they create a terraced interior. At the same time the aim is to give the RTS headquarters a strongly public character.

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Zwicky Site, Plots A6-A9, Wallisellen, Switzerland

Commission competitionDates competition 2014 (2nd prize)Size 16,000 m2 Costs –Client Halter AG

The former textile factory forms the nucleus for the devel-opment of a new urban district. From the industrial logic of the existing buildings we develop three simple building volumes that strengthen the place through their spatial and atmospheric impact and help to anchor the new in the old. We propose collective typologies with communal outdoor and circulation spaces for the student resi-dence and the old person’s housing. Both the five-storey court-yard type for the collective student residence and the two long sculptural buildings are derived in terms of form and scale from the existing industrial fabric.

Commission competitionDates competition 2014 (2nd prize) Size 2,086 m2 Costs – Client City of Zurich

The new building for the Tanzhaus is fitted into the exis-ting complex like a custom-made element. The ensemble of river banks, terrace and Tanzhaus is augmented and given greater spatial density by the addition of two small-scale pavilions. The entrance pavilion containing the café ensures that the new building can be easily identified and accessed and also serves as a meeting place. The rooms of the Textile College are in the southern part of the buil-ding. In the context of a formerly industrial area and the central urban axis of the open space along the River Lim-mat we continue the building using simple architectural means: wall, stairs, terrace and pavilion.

Swiss Dance and Textile College, Was-serwerkstrasse, Zurich, Switzerland

Headquarters Roshen Confectionery Corporation, Kiev, Ukraine

Commission study commissionDates commission 2012, planning 2012 – 2013Size 8,000 m2Costs –Client Architectural Bureau Zotov & Co Ltd., Kiev

The future Roshen Chocolate Factory is envisioned to become not only a place of production but also a public venue. The new headquarter tries to work with industrial typologies and further develop them into new prototypes. At the same time, the new building should clearly signal Roshen’s start into a new era. The large-spanned indus-trial hall and the vertical tower are both typologies that are found in industrial areas. By a series of design steps and manipulations they are adapted to the site and to the intended program in order to finally become an innovative new prototype, specific to Roshen and to Kiev.

V-Zug Site Masterplan, Zug, Switzerland

Commission study commissionDates study commission 2013Size 80,000 m2 Costs –Client Zug Estates AG

What is the future of the European city? In searching for examples we arrive at converted industrial districts. With a high level of density they frequently mix different func-tions. In a process of ‘learning from’ we developed the morphological and typological knowledge gained from such sites into an approach to urban planning that we call Stadtfabrik (‘city factory’). The V-Zug site offers the chance to implement one such city factory. Within a com-pact area industry, technology clusters, and service indus-tries are combined with housing and a district centre. The site will become a city in the city, similar to an inner-city university campus.

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Commission competitionDates competition 2013 Size 21,000 m2 Costs –Client Canton of Zug, Zugerland Verkehrsbetriebe

With the new main base the Canton makes a clear com-mitment to the future of public local transport. Within the restricted room for manoeuvre we propose an innova-tive building concept. The two basement levels extend to the site boundaries and are used primarily for parking the buses. The seven-metre-high ground floor is broken up by four cores to create three workshops. A two-storey volume containing the office spaces hovers above this concrete plinth and cantilevers outwards on all sides. The offices open to ‘climate gardens’ along the outside of the building. A kind of permeable and breathing outer layer, they form the façade of the building.

Main Base Zugerland Verkehrs- betriebe AG, Zug, Switzerland

Lindt Chocolate Competence Center, Kilchberg, Switzerland

Commission study commissionDates study commission 2013 – 2014Size 34,800 m2 Costs –Client Lindt Chocolate Competence Foundation

The intention is to extend the original headquarters of the established chocolate factory by adding a new building and to present its traditions and history to visitors. This can only be authentic if the existing is expanded to create a new entity. We attempt to develop the new building out of the existing fabric by inserting an exciting compositi-on of four differentiated building parts in the topography. In each of the building blocks, which differ in height and size, the basic structure responds to the planned function. According to the future function of each building the faca-de is either more expressive or more restrained — but is always an abstract arrangement of surfaces.

Lucerne University, Department of Music, Kriens, Switzerland

Commission competitionDates competition 2013 Size 9,000 m2Costs –Client Luzerner Pensionskasse

The new building for the School of Music offers an ex-treme internal density that contrasts with the existing spatially loose layout of the large freestanding buildings on the outskirts of Lucerne. The relief-like cladding of the horizontal façade bands – thin-walled reflective chrome steel cassette panels – clothes the school in a festive robe that absorbs the heterogeneous surroundings like a ka-leidoscope and reflects them in multiple fragments. In the interior a second building, which is condensed to the maximum, is inscribed in the formal gesture made by the external form of building. The internal and external build-ings engage each other in a constant exchange.

Ozeanium Zoo Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Commission competitionDates competition 2012Size 13,000 m2 Costs –Client Zoologischer Garten Basel AG

The dynamic volume of the new Ozeanium takes its scale from the topography of the curving River Birsig valley. A double cantilever towards the city creates a reception area, towards the Birsig the building is transformed into a landscape of terraces. The composition of stacked vo-lumes gives the building a minimal footprint. Undulating glass elements encase the building and break the light, like a ruffled area of water. Everything that, in reality, takes place under water is to be found in the underground aqua-ria. This creates a contrast to the exhibition spaces and outdoor terraces above ground level, where animals that live in the water and on land are kept.

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Ice Hockey and Volleyball Arena ZSC & Volero, Zurich, Switzerland

Commission competitionDates competition 2012 (4th prize)Size 73,600 m2Costs – Client City of Zurich

The new stadium is inserted in a natural but self-confident way in the series of large commercial buildings. A robust concrete plinth anchors it between the railway tracks, motorway and allotment gardens. The entrance area is cut out of one of the corners of the plinth. A broad flight of steps leads directly up to the public city terrace which offers an expansive view of the Limmattal. The main ele-ments volleyball arena, ice hockey arena, and training hall are combined within the form of the building. A veil of perforated and folded chrome steel is laid over the buil-ding like a tablecloth. It gives the large volumes a certain porosity and unifies the different functions.

Europaallee, Building Site F, Zurich, Switzerland

Commission competitionDates competition 2012 (2nd prize)Size 35,000 m2Costs – Client SBB Immobilien Development AG

Europaallee is characterised by large scale urban blocks with a number of high-points. Our project takes up the eaves lines and staggered heights of the surrounding projects and meshes the urban parts with three taller buildings of different heights to form a new entity. The new building is intended to stand in the city and create clear addresses. Its independent appearance is shaped by a finely weighted, net-like mesh of differently colou-red glasses. The staggered depths and the way light is fractured play a lively graphic game. The large proportion of housing called for and the shape of the site offer ideas conditions for a diversified mix of apartment types.

Commission competitionDates competition 2012 (2nd prize)Size 3,461 m2Costs –Client Canton of Graubünden

In extending the Kunstmuseum the Villa Planta was to retain its formative role. Yet on the other hand the exten-sion was to assert its independence and, additionally, to be legible as a new entrance. It achieves this balancing act by a form that is incised at the corners. The dramati-cally elevated silhouette makes clear that this is not just an addition. The set-back hollows made by the volumetric incisions create a strong sculptural statement that invites visitors to approach closer and establishes a relationship to the reactivated historic main approach to the site. At the same time the stepped form of the building produces a restrained volume that responds to the sensitive context.

Extension Bündner Kunstmuseum, Chur, Switzerland

Commission study commissionDates commission 2011 (1st prize), ongoingSize 90,000 m2Costs –Client Viscosistadt AG

Emmen, which in just a few decades grew from a farming village into a town, still remains an agglomeration without an old town or a centre. Converting the old Monosuisse site on the River Emme now offers a chance to give the town a real centre. The industrial conglomerate, a town in town, has impressive existing buildings. Different vo-lumes, facades and typologies created truly urban spaces with different qualities. The project is based on four main theses: 1. Activating and linking programmatically, 2. Brin-ging the town to the river, 3. Strengthening the urban qua-lity of the site, 4. Further expanding the existing diversity of buildings.

Viscosistadt, Emmenbrücke, Switzerland

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Commission competitionDates competition 2011 (4th prize)Size 12,500 m2 Costs –Client Canton of Waadt

The new museum is at a fantastic location on one of the most public places in Lausanne. It connects with the Place de la Gare to form a large terrace. Proximity of this kind between an infrastructural and a cultural centre presents chances. The ‘Espace projet’ becomes an interface space – it is entrance, exhibition area and public space at one and the same time. The existing hall with its powerful spa-tial disposition formed the starting point for a new build-ing. This is a building resting on a building. The formal strength of the new building is unimaginable without that of the old one. Past and present are inscribed as a plinth that yet also appears as an independent building.

Musée Cantonale des Beaux-Arts MCBA, Lausanne, Switzerland

Commission competitionDates competition 2011 (recognition)Size 34,250 m2 Costs –Client Canton of Basel-Landschaft

The term ‘campus’ is generally associated with urban lo-cations where research, learning, culture and housing are combined in a vibrant mix. We read the building itself as an urban place, a small city, a vertically condensed cam-pus, and articulated into individually identifiable ‘quar-ters’. A system of internal squares, streets and lanes gives each function a clear address. The ‘buildings’ standing along the internal sequence of spaces develop internal fa-cades, the campus becomes permeable. By incising court-yards spaces of different depths are created. The principle means of expression are the load-bearing structure and facade grid, as well as the overall geometry.

University Campus FHNW, Muttenz, Switzerland

Commission competitionDates competition 2011 (3rd prize) Size 10,051 m2 Costs –Client City of Zurich

School buildings have an important role to play, both as district centers and fixed points in urban design. With its terracing the complex becomes a large-scale deposition. The new school is connected with the district on all side. The staircase hall serves as a symbolic node in this net-work. The issue is to erect buildings that prove their worth in the long term. With their neutral structural grids, high spaces and high load-bearing capacity, industrial build-ings can accommodate new functions without requiring major changes and provide a generosity. A column-slab structure with tall storey heights and considerable build-ing depth forms a flexible spatial system.

School Complex Blumenfeld, Zurich, Switzerland

Commission competitionDates competition 2007 (2nd prize)Size 150 m2 Costs –Client Municipality of Erlenbach

In this project we divided the spaces into two interven-tions. A space-containing wall accommodates the main-taining functions. The mortuary proper is, in contrast, a freestanding building in the cemetery. Together with the wall, it sets up an entrance and deliveries area. The mor-tuary consists of several buildings that lean against each other. The individual elements both refer to and deter-mine each other. The path taken by the mourners leads from the roofed forecourt, which opens towards the lake at one short end, across the enclosed visitors room to the intimate and self-composed space where the body of the deceased person is laid out.

Mortuary Hall, Erlenbach, Switzerland

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Commission competitionDates competition 2005 (1st prize), planning 2005, ongoingSize 12,500 m2 Costs CHF 16.6 Mio.Client Real Estate Karlín Group a. s.

The site is in a prime location on Thámova Street in Pra- gue, between a generously sized courtyard and the banks of the River Vltava. The goal is to exploit the characteristic location and to give as many apartments as possible a view of the landscape along the river. This means that most apartments face north-south. We interpreted the at-tic storey stipulated in the development plan as a loosely broken-up level rather than a recessed top floor. A step of half a level in section creates a staggered cut figure that gives the façades their character and creates a kind of saw-tooth silhouette. In this way the structure of the building directly becomes its façade.

Rivergardens Z3, Prague, Czech Republic